Musical instrument of the xylophone type.



H. C. MARX.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OF THE XYLOPHONE TYPE.

APPLICATION man OCT. 22, 1917.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H 5 G D Z 3 ,1 '5

O o o H. C. IVIARX.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OF THE XYLOPHONE TYPE.

APPLICATION FILED 001122, 1917.

PatenteIl Nov. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

llllll Il may 1 IJOCEGBFRC UNITED STA HENRY C. MAR X, OF CHICAGO ILLINOIS.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OF THE XYLOPHONE '"IYZPE.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 11%, 1918.

Application filed ()ctober 22, 1917. Serial No. 197,780.

' lowing is a specification.

The invention has relation to musical instruments of the Xylophone, metallophone or orchestra bells type, or in other Words, to that type of an instrument in which musical sounds are produced by means of a number of different-tone producing members,such as metallic or wooden bars or musical strings, when they are struck by a suitable mallet or hammer, said members being arranged in a row in substantial parallelism with one another and graduated in length, and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement and operation of the various parts thereof as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

One of the objects of the invention is to furnish an instrument of the above mentioned general character, which can be played with little practice by those unskilled in music, or by others, and which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction, strong, durable and efficient in operation. A further and very important object is to provide the instrument with keyed spring hammers, to be used for striking'the tone-producing members to create the desired notes or sounds, and with means for automatically causing said hammers to repeatedly strike the said members in order to produce and control tremolo. Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the subjoined description. and explanation.

In the accompanying drawings which serve to illustrate an embodiment of the lnventlon, I

Figure l is a plan view of the instrument.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2. of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, showing one form of the means employed for causing the ham'mer's to repeatedy strike the tone-producing members.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detached perspective view of 'one of the hammer carrying keys employed for striking the grouped toneproducing members.

Fig. & is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, showing a modified form of the means employed for causing the hammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members.

Fig. 5 is a fragmental similar view to that shown in Fig. 4 illustrating another modification in the means for causing the hammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members.

Fig. 5" is a fragmental plan view of the instrument casing and the partition therein, showing the modified means illustrated in Fig. 5 for causing the hammers to {)epeatedly strike the tone producing memers. '1

Fig. 6 is a detached perspective view of one of the hammer carrying keys used for striking the tone-producing members of the scale.

Fig. 7 is a fragmental plan view of the casing of the instrument showing a modification in the construction of the toneproducing members and also a modification in the construction of the hammer carrying keys used for striking the grouped tonepraducing members of said modification, an

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of another modification in the means employed for causing thefhammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members.

Like numerals of reference refer to corresponding parts throughout the different views of the drawings.

The casing of the instrument is designated as a whole by the reference numeral 10 and may be made of any suitable size, form and material, but preferably rectangular in shape and of wood. Near one of its ends the casing is provided with a transverse partition 11, which together with the adjacent end wall of the casing forms a compartment 12 for the reception of a motor 13 of any suitable kind employed for op erating a bar extended longitudinally of the casing and transversely over the springs of the hammers, which bar is employed to cause the hammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members of the instrument, as will be presently explained. Referring now to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive of the drawings, it will be seen that the casing 10 is provided at one of its sides. which may be termed the'rearthereof with a sounding box 14 which is produced by placing an upright partition 15 longitudinally on the floor of the casing at a suitable distance from the rear wall of said casing. This partition extends from the partition 11 to the end wall of the casing farthest from the last named partition as is clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and by placing and securing to the inner surface of the rear Wall of the casing a horizontally disposed partition 16 which extends from one endof the casing to the partition 11 near the other end thereof. As shown the horizontal partition 16 projects inwardly from the rear wall of the casing but terminates at its inner edge a considerable distance from the partition 15 thus providing an elongated opening 17, see Figs. 1, 2 and 7 of the drawings, in which figures it will be seen that the partition 16- has at'its end opposite the partition 11 an inwardly projected extension 18 which meets the partition 15 and thus forms a horizontalclosure for the end of the opening 17 opposite the partition 11. Located longitudinally on the upper surface of the horizontal partition or shelf 16 is'a cord or strip 19 of yielding material, and located on the upper edge of the partition 15 is a cord or strip 20 of similar material. Located transversely with respect to the opening 17 and on the cords or strips 19 and 20 are a series of tone-producing members 21 and 22. These members are" held in spaced relation to one another by means of pins 23 seated in the partitions 15 and 16 and extended through suitable openings in the tone-producing members. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawlngs, the tone-producing members 21 are graduated in length and the members 22 are arranged in groups of three members each. The members of each group are also graduated in length and said members, as Well as the members 21, may be made of any suitable hard material but by preference of metal. The members 21 form a musical scale of one or more octaves, but in the present lnstance two octaves are shown and the grouped members 22 are tuned to harmonize with the'pitch of the scale.

Located longitudinally on the floor of'the casing between the partition 15 and the front wall 25 of the casing is an upright partition 26 which serves as a pivot bar or support for the keys 27 which carry the spring hammers 28 used for striking the tone producing members 21 and the keys 29 for the hammers 30 used for striking the grouped members 22, for it will be seen by reference to Figs. 3 and 6 of the drawings that said keys are provided on their lower surfaces each' with a transverse groove 31 to receive the upper edge of the bar or support 26 which extends from one end of the casing to the partition 11 near the front wall of the casing. The

front wall 25 of the casing is provided at its upper edge with an inwardly extended flange 32 which is provided on its lower surface with a felt strip 33 against which the outer portions of the keys 27 and 29 will strike and normally rest; Below the flange 32 the front wall 25 of the casing is provided on its inner surface with an enlargement 31 which has on its upper surface a strip of felt 35 against which the outer portions of the keys 27 and 29 will strike and rest when they are depressed. By the foregoing arrangement it is obvious that the movement of the keys will be restricted and that the felt or cushioning material 33 and 35 will prevent any rattling noise. Each of the keys 27 has secured to its inner end one end of a spring stem 36 on the other end of which stem is mounted in an upright position, a hammer 28 of wood or other suitable material. Each of'the keys 29 has secured to its inner portion three spring stems 36, each of which has mounted on its free end a hammer 30 of wood or other suitable material. As is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, the stems 36 of the keys 29 diverge from each other and said keys are so located on the support 26 therefor as to enable the adjacent hammers of each key to strike the same tone-producing member 22, while the hammers and spring stems onthe key 29 adjacent to the key 27 next to the inner group of the tone-producing members 22, are arranged so that the hammer on the key 29 adjacent to said key 27 will strike the same tone-producing member 21 of the scale. The keys 27. and 29 are pivotally mounted on the support 26 in parallelism with one another and in such a way that the stems 36 of the keys 27 will extend directly over the tone producing members 21, while the stems 36 of the keys 29 will extend over the tone-producing members 22 and one of the tone-producing members 21 of the' scale. The keys 27 and 29 are inwardlyover-balanced by the weight of the hammers and spring stems which they carry, so that the outer ends of the keys will normally rest ries near one of its ends a worm gear 38 to mesh with the worm 39 on the driving shaft 40 of the motor which as before stated may be of any suitable kind. Mounted on the shaft 37 so as to turn therewith is a bar 41 which is angular in cross-section and may be covered with felt 42 or other suitable cushioning material. The bar 41 is of such size, that in its rotation it will not touch the stems 36 of the hammers when said stems are in their normal positions as .shown by full lines in Figs. 2, 1 and 5 of the drawings, but when the keys are depressed to aesaeee about the positions indicated by dotted lines in the last named figures of the drawings, the angular portions of the bar 41 will momentarily strike the stems 36 thus causing the hammers carried by said stems to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members.

I have shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings a modification in the construction of the means for causing the hammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members, which modification consists of a rectangular bar 43 which may be covered with cushioning material 44, such as felt, or the like. This bar 43 is mounted on the shaft 37 soas to turn therewith, and it is obvious that in the revolution of said shaft, and bar, the cornors of the bar will intermittently strike the spring stems 36 which carry the hammers and cause the latter to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members.

In the construction illustrated in Fi s. 5' and 5 of the drawings, another modification in the means for causing the hammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members is illustrated, and this modification consists in the employment of a bar 45 which is substantially rectangular in cross-section and is pivotally mounted on a pivot 45 at its end near one edge thereof, on the partition 11 and at its opposite end on the casing 10 of the instrument at a suitable po nt above the inner ends of the hammer carrying keys. Near its other edge at the end thereof adjacent to the gear 38 the bar 45 has a pin 45 on which is pivotally mounted one end of a link 46, the other end of which link I is pivotally connected to a crank 46 on the shaft 37, which crank is located between. the

partition 11 and the adjacent end of the bar 45. As the shaft 37 is rotated the crank 46 thereof will be turned therewith and will. raise and lower the rear portion of the bar 45 so that said bar will strike the stems when the keys carrying said stems are depressed, once in every revolution of the I shaft 37. i

In Fig. 7 is shown a modification 1n the construction of the tone-producing members of the instrument, which consists. in employing vibratory musical strings 21 and 22*, extended across the opening 17 of the sounding-box, instead of the tone-producing bars 21 and 22 respectively, shown n the other views of the drawings. In this modification, said strings may be graduated in length and part of them grouped as set forth in the other construction, and-said strings are secured at one of their ends to hitch. pins, (not shown). lhe other ends of the strings 21*- and 22 are secured to tuning pins 47 seated in the upper portion of the horizontal partition 16 of the sounding-box. In this modification, keys and hammers, 27 and 28 of the construction shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, are used for striking the tone-producing members or strings 21 and said keys are mounted in a similar manner to those bearing the same reference numerals and above described. The keys and hammers used for striking the tone-producing members or strings 22 are of substantially the same construction as that shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, except, that as the tone-producing members or strings 22 are veryv narrow, they do not present sufiicient area or surface for two of the hammers 30 to strike side by side of each other as in the other construction, one of said tone-producing members. Consequently one of the spring stems 36 of each of the keys 29 used in this modification is made longer than the adjacent stem of the key adjacent thereto, thus enabling two of the hammers 30 to strike the same tone-producing members in the grouped section thereof as, well as the tone-producing member 21 adjacent to said grouped sections.

I In Fig. 8 of the drawings, is shown still another modification in the construction of the means for causing the hammers to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members, which consists of a bar 48 circular in cross section which is mounted on the shaft 37 to turn therewith. This bar is provided on its periphery with a series of longitudinally extended ribs or projections 49, which in the rotation of the bar 48 will intermittently strike the spring stems 36 when the keys'carrying the same are depressed and thus cause the hammers carried by said stems to repeatedly strike the tone-producing members.

Referring again to the grouped tone-producing members clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 7 of the drawings, and above described, it will be noted that the tone-producing member G of the grouped members is used for both chords, C and G 7th. The object of this arrangement is to economize in space and expense. It will also be noted that in producing the chords G 7th and F, the tone member F is used for both chords, and that in the F chord the tone-producing member C or first tone-member of the scale is used thus producing the key of C from six extra tone-producing members, whereas, otherwise nine of such memberswould have to be used.

Extended lengthwise of thecasing 10 and supported at one of its ends on the partition 11' and at its other end on the end wall of the casing farthest from said partition, is an inclined board 50 which may have on its front face a chart for guidance in playing the instrument. As shown, the lower edge of the board 50 is located just above the keys 27 and 29 and serves to prevent accidental dislocation thereof.

. While I have shown the hammers supported on spring stems 36 and prefer to so mount them, yet, in some instances, such as where the means for striking said stems to cause the hammers to strike the tone-producing members repeatedly moves very rapidly it is obvious that non-resilient stems may be employed, and for this reason I do not desire to be limited to the use of resilient stems, nor do I desire to be limited to the use of a motor for driving the shaft on which the movable bar for striking the stemsis mounted, as any suitable means for imparting movement to said shaft may be employed. Neither do I care to limit myself to the use of a sounding-box, as by using better material for the tone-producing members the sounding-box may be dispensed with.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. musical instrument of the character descrlbed including in combination, a series of tone-producing members mounted side by side and tuned to give at least one octave, a

series of keys suitably fulcrumed between their ends, resilient stems extended from the inner ends of said keys, a hammer mounted on the free end of each of said stems, and

movable means adapted to intermittently contact with said stems to cause the hammers thereon to repeatedly strike said'members When the keys are manually operated to move the stems from their normal position.

2 A musical instrument consisting of a casmg having a sounding box provided with an opening, a series of tone producing members mounted cross-wise of said opening, a series of manually operable keys pivotally mounted on the casing, hammers having res lient stems mounted on said keys and located near said members, and movable means located across said stems and adapted to in-' termittently contact therewith when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual movement of the keys.

3 A musical instrument consisting of a caslng having a sounding box provided with an opening, a series of tone producing members mounted cross-wise of said opening and tuned to give at least one octave, a series of manually operated keys pivotally mounted on the casing, hammers having resilient stems mounted on said keys and located near said members, and rotatable means located across said stems and adapted to intermittently contact therewith when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual movement of the keys.

4 A musical instrument consisting of a casing having a sounding box provided with an elongated opening, a series of tone producing members mounted cross-wise of said opening, a series of manually operated keys pivotally mounted on the casing, a resilient stem extended from each of said keys, a hammer mounted on the free end of each of said stems, said hammers located near said members, and a rotatable member located across said stems and having means adapted to intermittently contact therewith in the ro tation of said member and when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual operation of the keys.

5. A musical instrument of the character described including in combination, a series of tone-producing bars mounted side by side and tuned to give at least one octave, a series of keys suitably fulcrumed between their ends, resilient stems extended fromthe inner ends of said keys, a hammer mounted on the free end of each of said stems, and movable means adapted to intermittently contact with said stems to cause the hammers thereon to repeatedly strike said tone-producing bars when the keys are manually operated to move the stems from their normal positions.

6. A musical instrument of the character described including in combination, a casing having a sounding box provided with an opening located near one of the walls of said casing, the opposite wall of said casing having on its inner surface a longitudinally extended groove, a series of tone producing .members mounted cross-wise of said opening, a series of keys suitably fulcrumed between their ends on a support, said support located near and in parallelism with said grooved wall of the casing, said keys having their outer ends extended into said groove, stems extended from the inner ends of said keys, a hammer mounted on the inner end of each of said stems, and movable means adapted to intermittently contact with said stems to cause the hammers thereon to repeatedly strike said members when the keys are manually operated to move the stems from their normal positions.

7. A musical instrument consisting of a casing having a sounding box provided w1th an elongated opening, one of the walls of said casing having on its inner surface a longitudinally extended groove, a series of tone producing members mounted cross-wise on said opening, a series of keys suitably fulcrumed between their ends on a support, said support located near and in parallelism with said grooved wall of the casing, said keys having their outer ends extended into said groove, resilient stems extended from the inner ends of said keys, a hammer mounted 'on the inner end of each of said stems, and a rotatable member located across said stems and having means adapted to intermittently contact therewith in the rotation of said member and when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual operation of the keys.

8. A musical instrument consisting of a casing having a sounding box provided with an elongated opening, a series of rigid tone producing members mounted cross-wise of said opening and arranged in two sections, one section adapted to produce a musical scale and the other section to produce chords harmonizing with said scale, a series of keys suitably fulcrumed between their ends, re- -silient stems extended from the inner ends of said keys, a hammer mounted on the inner end of each of said stems, and a movable bar extended across sald stems and 7 having means adapted to intermittently conand a rotatable bar angular in cross section located across said stems and adapted to intermittently contact therewith inthe rotation of said bar and when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual operation of the keys.

' 10. A musical instrument consisting of a casing having a sounding box provided with an opening, a plurality of rigid tone pro ducing members mounted cross-wise of said opening and comprising two groups of such members, the members of one of said groups adapted to produce a musical scale and the other group producing chords to harmonize end of each of said stems, said hammers located near said members, and a rotatable bar angular in cross section located across said stems and adapted to intermittently contact therewith in the rotation of said bar and when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual operation of the keys.

11. A musical instrument consisting of a casing having a sounding box provided with an elongated opening, a series of rigid tone producing members mounted cross-wise of said opening and above the same, a series of manually operated keys pivotally mounted on the casing, a resilient stem extended from each of said keys, a hammer mounted on the free end of each of said stems, said hammers located near and above said members, and a rotatable bar angular in cross section located across and above said stems and adapted to intermittently contact therewith in the rotation of said bar and when said stems are moved from their normal positions by the manual operation of said keys.

' HENRY C. MARX. Witnesses:

CHAS. C. TILLMAN, LILLIE C. BERG. 

